Category: Smart Home

Notion, the complete home awareness solution powered by a multi-purpose IoT smart home sensor, today announced a first-of-its-kind integration with HomeAdvisor, the Colorado-based marketplace connecting homeowners to prescreened professionals for home projects. The integration with HomeAdvisor, called Plumber Matching, marks Notion’s first partnership with a service provider to enable homeowners to immediately contact a local and available plumber when a water leak is detected. Notion’s low-cost and easy-to-install home monitoring system gives homeowners the flexibility to monitor and receive real-time alerts on things happening across their entire home—from motion and…

Security researchers have found a number of vulnerabilities in two popular smart home systems. The flaw could lead to hackers gaining control of such systems. According to researchers at IT security company Rapid7, both Wink’s Hub 2 and Insteon’s Hub devices leave sensitive credentials insecure on their associated Android apps. Both devices are designed to connect various home IoT products and manage home automation. Additionally, they claim, Wink’s cloud-based management API does not properly expire and revoke authentication tokens, and the Insteon Hub uses an unencrypted radio transmission protocol for…

Nvidia went to China last week and made a series of interesting announcements having to do with smart cities and autonomous cars. (The video is worth watching.) IBM made an announcement on advancements in tying the Weather Channel to its Watson artificial intelligence engine and targeted marketing. We also found out about Oculus’ Fall in Love VR project which is kind of like The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, but the significant other is a hot computerized avatar. Intel announced Loihi, a new AI processor that emulates the human brain. All…

We talk to the London startup that wants to actually improve your sleep. “The first generation of over-simplistic sleep tracking is over. It’s done, it’s gone, it’s dusted.” So says Circadia founder and CEO Fares Siddiqui who I met at London’s Makerversity campus to talk about why Fitbit, Johnson & Johnson and mattress startup Casper are interested in what his small team of designers and engineers thinks comes next. He points out that the ‘sleep aid’ industry, which includes everything from pillows to drugs to devices, is set to be…

With Windows 10 IoT Core, you can incorporate the power of Windows into your Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This course is the second in a series of two courses by Michael Lehman; both courses are designed to help you get up and running with Windows 10 IoT. Here, Michael shows how to build a full IoT device based on a Raspberry Pi 3, including effectors, sensors, and cloud connectivity to Windows Azure. https://www.linkedin.com/learning/iot-development-with-windows-10-iot-core-2-enabling-the-cloud-and-security/using-the-exercise-files?autoplay=true

When Home Alone debuted more than 25 years ago, poor Kevin McCallister, left behind by his family, was forced to use regular household objects like glue, paint cans, wire and blow torches to protect his house (and himself) from would-be robbers. Kevin made do with his supplies, successfully booby trapping the house, but we can’t help thinking his job would have been a lot easier if he had today’s smart home technology on his side. Here’s how we imagine Kevin would booby trap his house in 2017 with the help…

In addition to getting its own iPhone app, the Google Assistant voice technology could soon command GE appliances, and Google AI will help assemble photo books. So what do preheating your range and assembling a physical photobook of family memories have in common? If you answered “machine learning artificial intelligence powered by Google voice recognition solutions,” you’re right. Google Assistant, the company’s voice technology featured in devices like Google Home, will soon work with GE appliances like ovens, dishwashers, refrigerators, washers and dryers. “Users will be able to ask the…

By 2019, smart cities projects and initiatives based on voluntary personal data sharing will benefit half of those living in large cities. Says the Gartner technology consultant, who points out an opportunity for governments to position themselves at the “society technological innovation centre.” The key to this is knowing how to take advantage of Open Data strategies. Thanks to the devices proliferation and Internet of Things growth, Gartner predicts that by the end of this decade, 20% of all local power organizations will be able to generate revenue with solutions…

If you put an AI in charge of your house — letting it control the lights, the alarms, the temperature, and so on — how would you want it to act? Should it be “autonomous and challenging” or “obedient and assisting”? Would you prefer if it sounded male, female, or if it was gender neutral? Should it be religious? These are just some of the questions Ikea is asking its customers in a new survey titled “Do you speak human?” The questionnaire was launched late last month by SPACE10, Ikea’s…

There are already more robot vacuum cleaners in people’s homes than many species of intelligent animals boast in absolute numbers. Although these machines are effective at simple tasks, they are not yet as intelligent as any of our pets. They have only a few sensors and do not really understand very much at all about the world they live in. Still, lots and lots of start-ups and established companies want to build more sophisticated domestic robots, as there is a belief that developing home automatons is going to be a…

Up to six people can train Home to recognize their voice Google Home can now be trained to identify the different voices of people you live with. Today Google announced that its smart speaker can support up to six different accounts on the same device. The addition of multi-user support means that Google Home will now tailor its answers for each person and know which account to pull data from based on their voice. No more hearing someone else’s calendar appointments. Training the thing to tell people apart sounds rather…

The Internet of Things (IoT) means adding network connectivity and some form of “intelligence” to everything. Everyday items are now connected to each other and the Internet. We are seeing an accelerating trend of smart devices flooding personal spaces, creating smart homes. Nearly all home goods can be bought with Internet connectivity. It doesn’t stop there: Security cameras, baby monitors, televisions, thermostats and heating systems are all connecting to the Wi-Fi network inside your house. The network is only protected from all the accumulated evil on the Internet by the…

As the gathering place, the center, and the heart of the home, the kitchen is often positioned as the focal point of our home lives. Now a wave of clever new connected devices are set to transform the way we cook, the way we eat, and the way we interact with our kitchen appliances. You only need to walk round the kitchenware section of any department store to realize there is no other room in the house where innovation is as prevalent. For years, manufacturers have focused on developing new…

More and more of the devices in our homes come with an internet connection, hooked up to your wifi to do various “smart” things. And while the smart-home dream where everything just magically does your bidding without you having to lift a finger is still a long way away, even the most mundane devices will soon be able to do something to make your life easier. Right now, the Internet of Things is still a bit of a mess, but with the right gear you can make your home work…

Business Insider Intelligence Exclusive: The data provided here is an excerpt from the Internet of Things Report, a comprehensive report that covers the market trends in the IoT industry. For complete analysis, learn more about BI Intelligence and the IoT Report. The Internet of Things is set to disrupt the way we live and work, but for now let’s focus on the “live” portion of that statement. Smart homes filled with connected products are loaded with possibilities to make our lives easier, more convenient, and more comfortable. Imagine that you’re…